Upper Darby High School - Oak Yearbook (Upper Darby, PA)

Page 11 text:

HISTORY the first stage in the growth and triumph of the institution which we are now leaving. Thereafter growth was assured, and the school increased in numbers until the school board deemed it necessary to erect a newer and larger building. Accordingly, the front part of the present high school was contracted for. This was in l9l7. The red brick building was moved to the north end of the grounds where it now stands, while the new school was completed in l9l9. The enrollment by this time had reached 260 pupils with a faculty of l7 teachers. Several purchases now afforded the school board a very desirable tract at the rear of the new building. This ground was graded in T920 and, in dedication to those who had lost their lives in the World War, was named the Memorial Athletic Field. Nevertheless, despite constant enlargements, the enrollment grew so spectacularly that in T924 plans were made for an annex to the main building, which was erected and completed in l926. However, this thirty-three room addition also proved inadequate, and in l928 another six- room addition was constructed over the heating plant. At this time an apropriation of one million dollars for a junior high school effected the removal of many from the now overcrowded senior high and greatly alleviated the strain of un- desirable circumstances upon bath students and faculty.

Page 10 text:

HW 4 eww aloe .1,f !.f,f-' SCHOOL HE Upper Darby school system had its earliest beginning in a land grant made to William WE if f' If V x g . B ef- Q lk ll we X V 4 n islmlllllile Garrett by the founder of Pennsylvania William Penn in l684 About a hundred years later the settlers assembled in I779 to purchase the land whereon to erect a school This school was built seven years afterwards on a portion of the ground now known as Upper Darby Township This early institution of learning like others In the revolutionary commonwealth was not free in the present sense of the word However the legislature in Harrisburg decreed the adoption of a free public school system throughout the state in l83'5 and a month later a public school was opened in this township with lsaac Garrett as its first teacher After serving the people for nearly a century the original two story stone school house was removed to make way for a larger brick building lt was on the second floor of this new construction that after the public system of schools had been established for more than fifty years the school entertained its first alumni reunion in l89l A addition was made to this some years later and the Upper Darby Senior High School was then in l894 first established under the direction of Miss Elisabeth D Turner its principal The first commencement exerc ses were held in l896 when course five students were graduated marking ea we , ,.::..,Nx'xs 1 . s..xjx,Y 2 '-L, - A. R1 '. - 1 1 S ' I ' I - I I I I I ' I I I I . . I J., - I ,ii I ' ' ' ..: ,l , l .5 .ilfsjg I . . . . - r -, ' 4? fr,--.L V H: - . ffffefi, 5:f5m.,- gnlfga. 1 , g '4'efPff-u -self' - - lf' upon completion of the three-year high school fin ,22,ai3E?rg:T 'TW :iff Y - - l f?.g..-L- ..s. ,L i ' ' 1 ' z il: 'I'-1'-Tri-E55 s- wwf-fPere':'-2 '-' H ---ef 2 W Y -:1kiQ:W,q ' J sifflll -I n 'f-Iv ' i V 1

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Many o lagging step has trod these boards